The Austrian artist Josef Hofer, mentally and physically handicapped since birth, almost deaf and with limited speech and vision, offers a rare example of how art can both help liberate creativity when other channels are closed, and provide a unique insight into the world of mental health and its exploration through art.

Together with his older brother Walter, Josef spent his childhood on his parents’ farm in the small village of Sankt Johann am Wimberg in the upper Austrian Mühlviertel. Here the end of World War II was followed by ten years of Russian occupation. Fearing mockery and political persecution, the family chose to live in complete isolation, and Josef never attended school.

Josef’s father died in 1977, and five years later his mother moved with her two sons to live with her niece in Kirchschlag, where he attended a day clinic. In this new environment the family’s life improved radically. Josef established contact with his cousin’s sons, began to communicate in single words, and started to draw regularly. In 1985 Josef Hofer became an inpatient at Lebenshilfe Oberösterreich in Ried, where the art historian Elisabeth Telsnig noticed his love of drawing and encouraged his creativity.

In 2003 Josef Hofer became a member of the Collection de L’Art Brut in Lausanne in Switzerland, and since then his works have been shown in numerous exhibitions in Austria and other countries, and he has received several awards.

Josef Hofer’s website, curated by Elisabeth Telsnig, with information about exhibitions and regular news updates, can be found here.